
MIAMI — The 49ers lost 31-20 to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. Here are the 49ers’ grades.
GAROPPOLO: D. He had an opportunity to prove he’s not a game manager, an opportunity to lead a game-winning fourth-quarter drive in the Super Bowl and put himself in the conversation with Joe Montana and Steve Young. But Garoppolo failed. With the game on the line, he overthrew a deep pass to Emmanuel Sanders, who was open. Overthrew him by a cool five yards. Garoppolo finished with two picks and a 69.2 quarterback rating. He may become an elite quarterback one day, but he has a long way to go.
RUNNING BACKS: A. Jeff Wilson Jr. made a 20-yard catch, Kyle Juszczyk caught a touchdown pass and Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman combined to rush 17 times for 86 yards — 5.1 yards per carry. Mostert also scored a touchdown. These three should have touched the ball much more than they did.
WIDE RECEIVERS: A. Deebo Samuel had 39 receiving yards and 53 rushing yards — a new record for a wide receiver in a Super Bowl. Kendrick Bourne also caught a 26-yard pass on third down, and Emmanuel Sanders might have caught a deep touchdown pass on third down to win the game, but Garoppolo overthrew him.
TIGHT ENDS: B. George Kittle made a beautiful deep catch at the end of the first half, but the officials flagged him for offensive pass interference. He finished with four catches for 36 yards.
OFFENSIVE LINE: A-MINUS. They blocked well in the run game and gave up only one sack, but Joe Staley committed a crucial false start in the second — an uncharacteristic mistake for a player of his experience and quality.
DEFENSIVE LINE: A-MINUS. They controlled the game for 54 minutes. The pass rush generated consistent pressure, flushed Patrick Mahomes out of the pocket and destroyed the continuity of the Chiefs’ passing game, until the defense got tired. Then the pass rush disappeared, and Nick Bosa gave up a 38-yard touchdown run to Damien Williams.
LINEBACKERS: A. Fred Warner intercepted Mahomes and recorded seven tackles. Warner rose to the occasion. Kwon Alexander did not — he recorded only one tackle. Will the 49ers bring Alexander back next season? He’s expensive, and Dre Greenlaw might be better than him.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: C. They played well until the final six minutes of the game. Then they gave up a long catch to Tyreek Hill. Backup safety Tarvarius Moore also committed a pass interference penalty in the end zone which led to a touchdown. And Richard Sherman got burned in man to man coverage by Sammy Watkins for a 38-yard catch. Two weeks ago, Packers wide receiver Davante Adams did the same thing to Sherman, but people overlooked that play because the 49ers won. The Chiefs didn’t overlook it. They attacked Sherman, whose legs are gone. The 49ers should draft a corner in the first round of the draft this year.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Richie James Jr. fumbled a punt and spent the rest of the game trying to make up his mistake. He kept running kickoffs out of the end zone for minimal gains. He did not rise to the occasion. Robbie Gould did, though. He made both of his field-goal attempts.
COACHES: D. Robert Saleh’s defense played historically well for the first three-and-a-half quarters until it got tired. That’s when it started giving up big plays. Saleh should not have asked Sherman to cover Watkins man to man, because Sherman is a pure zone corner who doesn’t run well enough to cover wide receivers man to man anymore. But this loss falls on the head coach, Kyle Shanahan. He evolved and improved this season, and yet he still can’t manage the clock in big games. Only three teams in NFL history ever have lost a Super Bowl when leading by 10 points in the fourth quarter, and Shanahan called the offensive plays for two of them. He’s beginning to seem like a high-level loser — someone who beats the competition all season until he finally beats himself. He is his own nemesis. These two Super Bowl collapses will define him until he wins a championship. Cruel, but that’s life.
6.4 yards per rush, but only 22 rush attempts?
14 plays with lead in the second half, but 9 were passes?
I’m proud of the 49ers. Fantastic season. Feel lucky Shanahan is the head coach. But this will feel sour for quite a while.
JG and offense were doing well with pass – don’t have stats but was on a roll until T Moore pick.
Appreciate your coverage and different content and points of view. I could be wrong KC did good job of kicking ball high and just short of goal line so had to come out.
Should have been able to take advantage of KC LB and Sorensen more. Even after missed calls and play on had Sanders – for potential go ahead score.
Wish that last 7 minutes was a bad dream
I think you’re right. James caught several near the endzone or with one foot only in the endzone. He had to run them out.
Very disappointing. That’s two SB’s wasted away now. A far cry from when we didn’t used to lose them. Losing is not entertaining in the least, but I am grateful for the season the team was able to put together. Here’s to next year!
Two Super Bowls where we were the better overall team!
Those combined with ‘02 Giants and Warriors 73 win failure we have had some tough championship losses
Not much to say, except this one hurts. I’ve seen five Super Bowl wins in my lifetime… really wanted this one, more so for my two boys that have followed in my 49er faithful footsteps.
High level loser Andy Reid finally got to pass the torch…Tag, your it Kyle!
This game…makes me rethink the whole season. I looked back on the schedule and how many big time quality wins did we actually have. I think two, New Orleans and Seattle. The rest of the wins were against tomato cans. Instant reaction, I think we were fooled a bit by this team. Pyrite.
Green Bay was good and Rams were good. We played Ravens very well.
I think this was a great season and we have a decently young team with a championship window for the next 2-3 years. Grant is right though we need to draft another CB this year.
I am okay with Shanahan’s play calling in the 4th quarter, they just didn’t execute. I would rather have him be aggressive than not get scared and just run clock.
We have all been waiting for Garoppolo to prove he can make the big play and he didn’t. I am not the least surprised, he is just not there yet.
You know who else was okay with Shanahan’s play calling in the 4th? The Chiefs.
Far too generous… Each grade needs to be dropped a full letter…
Kwon Alexander had a horrific game. I was wondering if he had healed from his pectoral injury because his tackling was horrendous. At the moment he is the weakest of the three starting linebackers for having such a huge price tag. Warner is a stud while Greenlaw can hit and tackle. Jimmy G is disappointing. He’s a lot like Alex Smith in that he is a seat warmer til a more talented QB shows up. Jimmy is inaccurate and weak on the long ball, he’s slow against a pass rush. He seems to realize the pass rush a tad too late and is too slow to escape. He’s also good for a couple of picks on balls that aren’t even dynamic throws just unwise ones. Jimmy also disappears as a passer in the last plays when you need him. he only plays as good as the game plan. No unscheduled plays out of him. Shanahan had his problems as well. They needed to get the ball more to their playmakers ala Kittle, Sanders and Samuel. An added play for Richie James might’ve been a big play because they have rarely used him. Richie never gets past the 20 yard line as a kick returner so he isn’t doing much there.
Garoppolo has a higher ceiling than Smith. It was his first year as a starter. Our offense down the stretch was running the ball and PA pass game down the middle of the field. Shanahan is no innovative I know he will continue to develop the offense and Garoppolo.
I am excited to see how our offense evolves next year. I just watched Dante Pettis highlights from 2018 and am wondering what exactly happened with him last year. Also Taylor and Hurd will be healthy.
Yes, agree this loss falls on Kyle. He went away from play action in the 4th quarter – too many straight drop back or shotgun plays. JG also didn’t get it done when it mattered – had the opportunity but flat out missed Sanders. Also had other opportunities in the second half he missed. First three quarters JG was good, but bad Jimmy showed up at the worst time.
Have to also say though that Mahomes is one heck of a player. He was the opposite of JG – mostly played poorly through the first 3 quarters but when it mattered most he was excellent. He and the Chiefs could go to quite a few SBs over the next decade so long as he stays healthy.
Maybe, but once the Chiefs pay him an average of $40 million per year, they’re going to lose quite a bit of talent.
You could actually see the defensive collapse coming in the GB game. The second half they did next to nothing to stop GB. Rogers just kept marching them down the field time after time. Despite knowing that GB was going to pass the pass rush did nothing until very late in the 4th QB. These defensive collapses have come with alarming frequency in the second half of the season and we thought it was mostly about injuries, but I think it was more than that. The defense stopped playing the tomato cans of the first half the schedule, and it was never as dominant again.
This one will sting for awhile. SF handed game to KC. Missed picks by SF…. Poor Return Team blocking, poor punting, missed containment on Mahomes, blown pass coverage. 3 straight possessions unable to move ball at end of game, blocked passes… Can’t forget poor officiating either. PI calls really hurt SF (against Kittle and missed vs Saunders). Missed off sides and delay of game made officials look foolish. Having to settle for FG’s vs TD’s at start of each half came back to haunt SF. JG needed to have A game, but could only muster up his B game. He missed leading his receivers several times limiting YAC. Of course, the Interception and multiple blocked passes didn’t help either. Oh well, great season SF, on to next year!
Composure: F… I understand the need for enthusiasm, but the team is almost too willing to emote and clown. They’re all smiles and hand gestures and end zone poses when they’re up… but look stressed, lost and damn near panicked when they start to lose ground. Starts on the sidelines with the coaches. Need the kids to show up, shut up and listen up. Enough of the flexing and screaming and the “LET’S GO!” histrionics.
I’m surprised at how bummed I am.
The refs were looking for anything to throw a flag at the Niners while doing nothing while Chiefs players commit fouls in front of them. I saw Honey badger ram a player who was out of bounds and then talk trash. No calls on Chiefs for PI including a flagrant hold on Sanders. Jimmy G got hit by a hand to his face, and a late shot with no call. If they’re gonna throw flags throw them on both sides but no.
This is a tough one to swallow as we were so close and played the better football for most of the game. The score did not reflect our dominance. Shoddy officiating in parts, shoddy OC and DC calls, where were our key FA acquisitions and shoddy player execution. They looked tired in the 4th quarter.
Cant believe the PI call made and the one missed. Cant believe the missed offside. Cant believe the non calls for unsportsmanlike conduct against the Chiefs (we got bullied a bit by them and it showed up down the stretch).
Then our playcalling on OC in the 4th. Sometimes the coaches try and prove they are the best coach and outsmart themselves. Stick to what you are good at. Even with that we had best part of 3 minutes to go in the superbowl and the ball in Jimmy’s hands for greatness. We had taken less than 3 minutes on a previous scoring drive with a mix of run and pass. We then move away from our DNA and just pretty much fluff our lines. As for DC again it felt like Salah was trying to prove what a great coach he was. For 3 quarters you could argue he had. But I think that was Reid just setting him up. Too many wrong coverages called and leaving our CBs on islands against the Zoom. Something we patently cant do.
Did we get the value and experience we were after form our top FAs? Sherman, Alexander, Ford, Sanders, Jimmy G, Juice – only Juice turned up to play well. Thats tough on Sanders as he wasnt featured much. Tough on Sherm cos he was left without protection. Tough on Ford as he did generate some pressure and tough on Alexander as he proved incredible just to get back fit – ish. Too much bad Jimmy with his decision making. He seemed panicked. Thats possibly a reflection of not having played enough in the previous two games. He is better than he has played for over a month.
As for player execution, I think the team looked slightly in awe of the event and were sapped by the adrenalin, and seemed to be here to make the numbers up. yes they went through the motions of playing a game.
Why did we lose? We lost time of possession, we lost on Special teams, we did well to hold the Chiefs to 30. We lost our heads.
I think the near future is bleak. We cant afford all the rookie contracts. So we wont be as good a team next year. We have holes in CB (not enough speed), LB (replacing Alexander) and the D-line will lose Armstead etc. Should we keep all the high priced FAs? Probably not. Will Joe S retire? Will Sanders be let go? So possible holes on OL, WR. We have few draft picks at low position and cant get creative if we wanted another QB and enough holes that need to be drafted for to afford the contracts of Kittle and Buckner. I do hope they take team friendly contracts but can appreciate why they should want to (and deserve to) be paid. So i think it will be a while before we return. Salah will go and we may retool our D before our next window. That said I think we massively over performed this year, okay a soft schedule to begin with but the team grew and proved they could give any team in football a great game. Its tough being a Niners fan but ever faithful – go niners!
Agree on all points by Grant,
Sherman is not up to the task and should consider retirement.
Garappolo not up to the task, yet. We saw this from Steve Young in his first few years (interceptions)
Shanahan seems to have his worst game on the biggest stage, again.
Kwon Alexander did have a bad game and had an easy pick go through his hands and missed tackles.
Did anyone see Dee Ford out there?
Jimmy Ward had a bad game as well.
Officials missed at least 3 fouls. The offside one was pointed out by Aikman, the PI one was called out by Mike Perrea , missed fouls were in Chiefs favor each time.